Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
Christmas morning brought slush, some practical gifts—socks from Hal and a new calendar from Joe, both of which she loved—and a report from Grace that didn’t shed light on much.
Unfortunately, Grace hadn’t found any secrets or scandal lingering around Jane’s Seattle colleagues, though she promised to continue digging.
But Jane hadn’t been bored while waiting for the holiday to pass.
Hal put her through her paces with some challenging games of Scrabble and, according to Joe, other nerdy word games.
Joe insisted she practice her marksman skills, finding her lacking, which annoyed her into proving him wrong.
She’d doubled up on her weight training.
And while running—on a treadmill—she’d pored over every article in social media on the Mazzuca crime family that she could find.
Due to the holiday season, the cleaning staff had time off. So Jane also happily scrubbed and vacuumed and dusted the house, secretly pleased the guys continued to make a mess of the kitchen, giving her an excuse to clean up after them.
On Christmas evening, while Hal went out with a lady friend and Joe played Santa with his family out in Tacoma, she had the house to herself.
The fireplace crackled and warmed the chilly living room, the atmosphere cheery since the guys had insisted on getting a real tree, decorated with the ornaments they’d retrieved from the attic.
Jane smiled, spotting a few she and her cousin had made for her uncle and the team, including a few childish drawings of a large group of men helping Santa pull his sleigh. Though members of Team Ten had come and gone, the core group remained.
She appreciated the ease of sharing memories and laughter with Hal and Joe.
They didn’t demand more than she wanted to offer.
She had no trouble being kind to those she loved and appreciated their snarky attempts to one-up her in everything from games to shooting to a few “easy” jogs around the property.
Like Jane, both Hal and Joe understood and encouraged competition. That was why when Uncle Sam needed results, they reached out to Team Ten, the mercs who got things done. Period.
She wanted to get back to that, the ability to do her job to the best of her ability. To take down criminals and serve them justice.
Despite enjoying the holiday atmosphere and reconnecting with family, the part of herself she’d been trying to ignore itched to be more productive than just cleaning house and building muscle.
Her phone rang, and she practically dove for it, hoping for anything to alleviate the doldrums of being away from work so long.
“Yo, spaz, nice you finally answered the phone.”
Jane swallowed a sigh at the husky female voice on the other end. “Merry Christmas to you too, Raine.”
Her cousin chuckled. “Ho ho ho. So what’s going on that I’m missing out on?”
Jane settled into the large chair near the fireplace and placed her phone down, speaker on. “Well, Hal and Joe still can’t beat me in a foot race. But Joe’s gotten even better with a pistol than he was the last time he was here. I swear he was born with a gun in hand.”
Raine snorted. “No kidding. His mom told me he got hooked on a water pistol at age three. The rest is history.”
Jane smiled. “I can see that. And Hal has been gorging himself on video games and sweets. Oh, and the ladies. He visited one of his friends the day after he got home, but I think he’s out with someone else tonight.”
“Boy Toy in the housssse.” Raine tapered off into a lingering silence, which wasn’t like her.
Jane liked silence, introspection, and patience.
Raine could talk the ear off a mule, made it a practice to comment aloud on whatever she thought when she thought it, and had trouble sitting still.
“What’s wrong?” Jane asked.
“Nothing.”
“Yeah, right.” She huffed. “Just tell me. Uncle Chris already mentioned you’re having some kind of issue.”
“What a blabbermouth,” Raine muttered.
“Where are you?”
“I didn’t say.”
“I know. That’s why I’m asking.” Jane swore she could hear her cousin shrug through the phone and knew a satisfactory answer would not be forthcoming.
“Nowhere special.”
More atypical silence. “But…?” Jane prodded.
A slight pause, then Raine blurted, “I’m thinking about leaving.”
“Your unit? You can do that?” Had the Marine Corps changed so much that Raine could leave her current assignment before her tour ended?
“No, dummy. My job.”
Jane blinked. “The USMC? But you live for the scarlet and gold.”
“I know.” Raine sounded miserable. “The last few ops, I, well…” She sighed. “Things have changed. I don’t like the direction things are taking.”
“Things, huh?” Jane knew what that was like.
“If your command is giving you problems, you know you should wait it out. COs come and go. The next spot will be better.” Or worse, but Raine would know that.
“But then, you’re Miss Popular with the higher-ups, aren’t you?
Use that chatty Raine charm and find a new home. ”
“It’s not that, exactly.”
“You can’t tell me?”
“No.” Raine’s frustration came through in a growl. “I’m so pissed at what’s been going on. And I can’t tell anyone.”
“Tell Uncle Chris.”
“Oh heck, no. He’ll bluster and take over, and then I’ll have to shoot him.”
Jane nodded. “Yeah, probably.”
“I just… I wish people would listen when I tell them things.”
“More things?”
Raine talked over her. “I’m not like you. I can’t just sit back and take it on the chin when my boss puts me on mandatory leave.”
Jane straightened in her seat. “Excuse me?”
“I mean, my partner gets shot, I’m all in someone’s face, finding out the truth. Making them pay.”
“What are you saying?” Jane started to get mad.
“I’m just saying I’d be taking steps to rectify the situation, not hiding out at home.”
“I’m doing what needs to be done.”
“Yeah, see. That’s what I should do. Rectify a few things.” Raine muttered something else then added, “I’ve gotta go. Tell the guys I miss them. Now pull on your big girl panties and make things right. Later, slacker.”
Raine disconnected before Jane could yell back at her.
What did her cousin know? Nothing about the situation. Even if Uncle Chris had shared—which he obviously had—he knew less than she did. And Grace hadn’t come up with any viable suspects from the home office, which to be honest, relieved Jane.
She didn’t want to believe anyone she worked with might be dirty.
But unlike her cousin, she knew making a big production out of pointing fingers without proof would get her nowhere.
It would only help alert the Mazzucas that she continued to investigate, which would clue in her SSA, and then the jerk would likely write her up for insubordination and finally figure a way to stick Simmons’ death on her for good.
Jane thought several steps ahead, playing the long game if not the most satisfying game. She glared at her phone. Some of us prefer to play it safe.
Still fuming, she found her uncle’s traditional Christmas movie and hit play then as quickly hit pause, unable to watch John McClane duke it out with Hans Gruber all by herself. Some traditions deserved to be followed, and a viewing of Die Hard without Team Ten didn’t bear consideration.
Grumbling, she tuned in to It’s a Wonderful Life instead, wondering what life might be like without her cousin to screw up the holidays.